Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000 they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet never forgets. Case in point: Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action), PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, The Magic Schoolbus and Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...
posted by Rhaomi on Sep 22, 2009 - 160 comments

“He’s courageous, he’s optimistic, he’s representing everything that Mickey Mouse should have represented but never did. There’s even something Jesus-like about him—a 9-year-old Jesus after 15 packets of Junior Mints.” SpongeBob SquarePants at ten years old.
posted by ColdChef on May 13, 2009 - 61 comments

The 1961 interview begins, "About four days ago, a plane landed at Idyllewild airport. The plane came from the Middle East bearing a man who claims to be 2000 years old. He's spent the last six days at the Mayo Clinic." The interviewer then goes on to pick the brain of the world's oldest man. [part 2, part 3, animated in 1975] This is considered by many to be one of the funniest comedy routines of all time -- Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks performing The 2000 Year Old Man. [ A 1961 TV clip of 2KYOM • Another • Similar, only it's an accountant instead of an old man • Origins of the words "cheese" and "egg" • Interview with Reiner & Brooks, late 1990's; Part 2 • Similar, only with Charlie Rose as the interviewer ]
posted by not_on_display on May 7, 2009 - 16 comments

While Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of irreverent short-form animation -- especially for 'toons that reimagine past hits -- it wasn't always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a series of short toons and interstitials that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation. (warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Dec 30, 2008 - 80 comments

Branded in the 80's: Peel Here From the obvious to the obscure to the downright frightening, Peel Here documents the collectible stickers of the 80's and related ephemera.
posted by 1f2frfbf on Jun 26, 2008 - 42 comments

One rather strange minor cultural phenomena you experienced as a kid growing up in 60s and 70s Britain was a number of television programs that originated from beyond the Iron Curtain. Most infamous was the downright scary The Singing Ringing Tree from East Germany (Radio4 doc), later spoofed by the Fast Show but there were several others... [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Mar 13, 2008 - 25 comments

Hold on to your talking magic flute, 70s kids... a new, animated H.R. Pufnstuf is on the island. Beatbox reworking of the original theme song included (Before/After). I'm dying to hear what they'll do with Mechanical Boy...
posted by miss lynnster on May 7, 2007 - 55 comments

Chris Ware animates a segment of an episode of the new This American Life television show. [previously: Chris Ware, This American Life on TV, Chris Ware on This American Life’s radio program]
posted by ijoshua on Mar 20, 2007 - 32 comments

Spots Before Your Eyes, an award-winning series of animated shorts promoting tolerance and human relations, produced in the 1950s by the American Jewish Committee (at AJC Archives)
posted by LinusMines on Jan 6, 2007 - 4 comments

Adult Swim Fix. Streaming full-length Adult Swim episodes twenty-four hours a day online. Seven archival episodes will be available at all times, while premieres will continue to debut on Fridays, two days before they appear on-air.
posted by ND¢ on Apr 27, 2006 - 24 comments

What's stranger than Madeline Kahn (who passed away 5 years ago) appearing in an upcoming animated feature for TV? Her co-star is John Candy, who's been dead for a decade.
posted by RavinDave on Aug 29, 2004 - 15 comments

Toon Tracker: Home of the Lost Cartoons
posted by anastasiav on Dec 12, 2003 - 8 comments

'tis the season for ... Rankin-Bass TV specials! The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass is a fan-site devoted to the distinctive animation of Arthur Rankin, Jr and Jules Bass. In addition to extensive and interesting background information on your favorite Christmas specials (like Rudolph), you can also learn about lesser-known specials such as The Ballad of Smokey the Bear. The site also includes some rare video clips, including a pencil-test from Frosty the Snowman. There is also a very complete section on the Rankin-Bass TV series, Thundercats. Please also see additional note inside....
posted by anastasiav on Dec 9, 2003 - 24 comments

Simpsonsmath.com: a guide for teachers to engage math-o-phobes with animated fun. "Mmmmmm, pi."
posted by serafinapekkala on Sep 17, 2003 - 5 comments

Best. Episodes. Ever. Though I think they're wrong about the worst. In honor of the upcoming 300th episode of the Simpsons, Entertainment Weekly looks back at the 25 best episodes and 1 worst. May the arguments, and uneeded meme generation, begin.
posted by eyeballkid on Feb 1, 2003 - 128 comments

Homer Simpson is Canadian, says Groening.
In Montreal for a performance of "The Simpsons", Matt Groening noted his dad was born in Canada and Homer is named for him so... "That would make Homer Simpson a Canadian".
He goes on to say the show will be on for at least another 14 years.
That should give us something to talk abiot.
posted by Blake on Aug 5, 2002 - 24 comments

Room-a-zoom-zoom! These cartoons were bad in a good way! When I was a wee lad, I loved cartoons like Blue Falcon/Dynomutt and Hong Kong Phooey. My gotta-watch cartoon was The Superfriends, which had some of the most unintentionally-hilarious dialogue ever. And can anyone for get The World of Sid and Marty Krofft? Anyone else get nostalgic over shows like this?
posted by mrmanley on Apr 11, 2002 - 17 comments

Skeletor and Gang: What is it about the combination of stop-motion animation, He-Man action figures, and sped-up heavy metal that makes me laugh until I hurt? "Skeletor, Mantenna and Grizzlor are having a party! Oh no! Moss-Man attacks! Defend us Squeeze!"
posted by emptybowl on Apr 5, 2002 - 7 comments

Save "The Tick" Petition A true travesty of justice was the cancelling of the Fox series "The Tick." In a world where naked statues are veiled at public expense, can we afford to miss out on original programming?
posted by Samizdata on Jan 29, 2002 - 31 comments

Family Guy, the uproariously funny and at times controversial Fox cartoon, has apparently been cancelled as of this season. A petition is presently circulating. Many others are writing letters. For me, I'm just sobbing quietly in a dark corner.
posted by nickd on Jan 28, 2002 - 50 comments

"Evil is afoot, and hoofing it with dark gusto!" Finally, the Fox show The Tick is slated to run in November and the official site is now open with clips, pics, and screensavers.
posted by Sal Amander on Jul 26, 2001 - 16 comments

Demented baby bent on world domination returns to television this week (wednesday at 9:30). I know i am happy about this.
posted by benjh on Jul 7, 2001 - 26 comments

Comedy Central airs an episode of South Park where the characters say "shit" 168 times, unbleeped. Trey Parker and Matt Stone prove once again that they aren't afraid to take American television where everybody else has already been.
posted by RylandDotNet on Jun 20, 2001 - 28 comments

The Gospel according to The Simpsons: A study finds that 69% of the episodes have at least one religious reference, while 11% of the episodes have a plot revolving around some religious issue.
posted by tamim on Jan 4, 2001 - 23 comments

Broadcast "quality" animation in 3 days? Something disturbing about tonite's southpark that just occured to me. it was basically about the ellian controversy, and the raid on easter sunday, they even had janet reno dressed up as the easter bunny for the attack, and they used "the closet photo" to kill kenny. now I know southpark animation isn't that difficult, but that seems awfully fast for them to put together an episode, espeically given that they've been advertising the episode all month...I'll be dreaming of conspiracy theories to explain this one tonite
posted by nomisxid on Apr 26, 2000 - 10 comments

Are americans really this stupid or does the rest of the world just have better things to do? TV owners are suing a company for running an ad with a CGI cockroach in it after destroying their TV's while trying to kill the roach. Will wonders never cease?
posted by jedrek on Apr 18, 2000 - 12 comments

Clerks: The Animated Series is coming to ABC in May (here's a preview in quicktime format). How far will ABC let slacking, smoking, cursing vandals go? Are they gunning for SouthPark? I can't imagine a watered-down version of Clerks being very funny at all, the whole point of Clerks the movie was the absurdity of the dialogue and jokes. Don't get me wrong, I used to be an über Kevin Smith fan, but I just can't imagine enjoying a kid-friendly version of the New Jersey universe.
posted by mathowie on Mar 7, 2000 - 9 comments

The Simpsons' Mike Scully is interviewed in this week's Onion. He briefly addresses the whole a.t.s. I-hate-the-show-but-I-keep-watching-anyway syndrome, along with the symbolism of the Comic Book Guy. It was amusing until I realized that I'm guilty of the exact same attitude when it comes to The Onion each week. Is it me, or is the paper just not as funny as it used to be?
posted by sandor on Feb 25, 2000 - 2 comments

Last week, the woman that does almost every female voice on Southpark committed suicide. It's a terrible loss, she did voiceover work for so many movies and shows. What's really spooky about it is listening to her being interviewed earlier this year. She even talks about animated characters living long after you're dead.
posted by mathowie on Nov 18, 1999 - 0 comments